ALBERTO GINÉS LÓPEZ IS THE FIRST RUNNER-UP IN THE WORLD GAMES ATHLETE OF THE YEAR POLL

Olympic Champion Alberto Ginés López of Spain collected 67,428 votes and finished in second place in the poll for the Athlete of the Year award, presented by the International World Games Association.

The 19-year-old climber from Sant Cugat del Vallés, Spain – gold medalist in the men’s Combined event at Tokyo 2020 – was selected as Sport Climbing’s representative in the poll, which included athletes and teams from a total of 24 sports, all included in the programme of The World Games Birmingham 2022.

Earlier in 2021, Tokyo 2020 women’s Combined gold medalist Janja Garnbret of Slovenia was named Athlete of the Month in August.

The World Games Athlete of 2021 award was won by hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh of India. Voting took place from 10 to 31 of January, on The World Games official website.

Alberto Ginés López os Spain competes at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Photo: Leo Zhukov/IFSC